Purification of viable cells from a tissue sample can be a laborious process that involves dissection and other manual manipulation and processing steps, as well as, in some cases, cell culturing. Maintaining sterility of the cells during the purification process is also an important concern. Although laminar hoods can be used to maintain sterility, they suffer a number of disadvantages. For example, such hoods are expensive, relatively immobile, cumbersome to work with, and consume valuable laboratory space. Efficiency of the cell purification process is another concern that further complicates the purification process. Isolating rare cells, such as stem cells, from a tissue sample requires an efficient process to recover as many of the cells as possible.
There remains a need for a practical, cost-effective, sterile, and efficient mechanism and method for extracting and collecting cells, such as stem cells, for advancing potential therapies that rely on the administration of these cells.